


Comfort In These Long Shadows

by Archer973



Category: Leverage
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: S04e07 The Grave Danger Job, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21561937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archer973/pseuds/Archer973
Summary: Hardison had narrowly escaped his death in that coffin. Now Eliot and Parker keep vigil over him while he sleeps, and say things neither has acknowledged before.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Parker/Eliot Spencer
Comments: 17
Kudos: 123





	Comfort In These Long Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning this piece is focused on Eliot and Parker and how they deal with the aftermath of Hardison's close call together. I tagged the OT3 because this is definitely part of the build up to that relationship, but I have a soft spot for Eliot and Parker and how they relate to each other, so they are the focus here.

The slight hiss of the window sliding up was the only thing that announced Parker's entrance into Hardison's apartment, but Eliot didn't need any more than that. He didn't look up from his book as she padded silently closer, habit more than secrecy making her footsteps inaudible to the untrained ear. He felt her pause behind his seat on the sofa and knew she was looking through the soft darkness of the unlit apartment to the cracked door of Hardison's bedroom.

“He's asleep, for now at least.” Eliot heard Parker inhale, the slightest tremor in her usually steady breathing, then she moved into his line of sight. She hadn't changed out of her clothes from the graveyard, though the black jacket was gone, leaving her looking strangely vulnerable in just a tank top and jeans with dirt still on the cuffs. She wouldn't meet Eliot's eyes, but he wasn't surprised when she sank lightly down onto the couch beside him, knee just barely brushing against his own.

There was silence between them, heavy in the shadowed expanse of Hardison's massive living room. Eliot watched Parker with calm eyes, making no move to pick up his book again even as the minutes stretched on, instead counting her breaths, watching the tremble of her pulse just under the curve of her jaw. It wasn't an indulgence he allowed himself often, this blatant watching, but tonight... tonight he could not stop himself from reveling in the life of her, imprinting the rhythm of her heart into his mind, assuring himself that she was here, that he had not lost her as he had almost lost Hardison.

The minutes slid by and the hard set of Parker's spine began to soften, though Eliot could see her fighting the trembling of her hands. Her breath would jerk sharply and her hands would clench and Eliot felt her pain like a bruise on his heart.

“Parker...” Her name slipped out before he could stop himself and she flinched like it was a blow, though at last her eyes darted sideways and met his. The urge to slam his walls back up was instantaneous, but Eliot had spent four years of his life giving himself to this team, body and soul and, for all he tried to fight it, heart as well. He hid it under growls and glares and gruff anger, but it was a lie and they all knew it. So tonight he didn't bother. Tonight... tonight they needed his heart.

 _She_ needed his heart.

Never breaking eye contact, Eliot slowly shifted so he was facing her and lifted his arm, a silent invitation. Parker stared at him, eyes darting around his face with both surprise and a small bit of trepidation, but Eliot stayed where he was, back pressed against the arm of the sofa, feet still touching the floor, making no move to touch her.

 _I am here_ , his body said, soft and steady in the face of her trembling. _If you need me, I am here._

Hesitant, Parker shifted closer, her leg pressing against his from knee to hip. Eliot didn't move, just gave her a small, almost wry smile. At the sight of it a wave of tension seemed to shiver out of her and Parker leaned into him, turning and pressing her face into his shoulder. Eliot felt something tight in his chest loosen and wrapped his arm around her shoulders with an inaudible sigh, rough fingers gentle on the bare skin of her bicep. He could feel the trembling she was trying so hard to control and knew that she could feel the unsteadiness of his heartbeat as she pressed closer into his side.

They sat like that for several long moments, neither quite daring to break the silence. Then the wailing of an ambulance split the quiet night and Parker flinched as if struck, pressing harder into Eliot's side with a sharp gasp of air, and Eliot's heart could take it no longer.

“It's alright, darlin'.” The endearment slipped out with the softness of his voice and in that moment he could not bring himself to regret it. “It's alright. Hardison's safe. He's here and he's safe.” Parker nodded rapidly, not moving her head from where it was pressed into Eliot's shoulder, and Eliot's heart twisted as he felt the dampness of tears seep through his soft cotton shirt.

“I know, I know, it's just...” Parker trailed off, twisting her head so that she could look at Eliot with one wet, red-rimmed hazel eye. “How do people live with... with the _fear_? When it hurts _so much_ , how can they still _care_?”

Her voice broke on the last word and the pain in it seared across Eliot's heart like a branding iron. His arm tightened around her shoulder, but then he forced himself to relax it, to not hold her to him.

“I'm the wrong person to ask, sweetheart.” It should have been true. He had spent years, _decades_ even, learning how not to care, learning how to build his walls, an impenetrable fortress around his heart. The world could do whatever it wanted to his body, his soul, but his heart was his own, the last piece of himself he could protect.

Until them.

Parker lifted her head, a tiny line appearing between her eyebrows as she looked at him. Eliot had seen her look at safes like that, brilliant mind unraveling their secrets, making them useless before the onslaught of her will.

“But you care about us.” She did not say it as a question, but as a fact. Water was wet. The sun rose in the east. Eliot cared.

“You're part of my team, Parker.” His team. His job. Protect them. Take the beating so they didn't have to. He had more blood on his hands than a million lifetimes could wash clean, but they were his redemption.

Parker sat up farther, the line between her eyebrows deepening. Eliot felt exposed, pulled open by that fierce, unwavering stare. He wanted to run, but she was still pressed against his side and that held him prisoner the way chains never could.

“No.” There was steel in her voice, ruthless as she stripped away his pretenses. “You protect the team, but you _care_ about us. About me and Hardison.”

Water was wet. The sun rose in the east. Eliot cared about Parker and Hardison.

He wanted to lie. He wanted to growl and shove her away and pretend that he had never let her see the softness in his heart. But he could still feel the grave dirt on his hand, could still hear Hardison choking and gasping in his ear. His arm was still around Parker's shoulders and her hazel eyes were boring into his, still red-rimmed from her tears, demand spread thick to hide the fragile, trembling fear that had ripped his thief so brutally open.

He was helpless before her.

Eliot let out the breath he had been holding, sinking back against the arm of the couch, suddenly feeling the exhaustion heavy in his bones. He didn't have the energy to pretend anymore. Not tonight. Not after pulling Hardison literally from his deathbed.

“Yeah, darlin', I care.”

It wasn't some great declaration of love. It was actually a rather innocent statement. But Eliot _felt_ the weight of it and knew Parker could too. He watched her, waiting for her to pull away, to draw back into herself. Fear for Hardison had left her raw and Eliot's admission was another weight on an already aching heart.

For a long moment the two looked at each other. Then Parker shifted forwards and wrapped her arms around Eliot's neck, pulling herself practically into his lap as she hugged him. Eliot sat there, frozen. Then Parker buried her face into the side of his neck and let out the tight breath she had been holding, the tension melting away and her body relaxing to mold against his. Slowly, Eliot brought his arms up and wrapped them loosely around Parker's shoulders. She pressed closer to him, and Eliot finally allowed himself to hold her.

Pulling on her gently, Eliot shifted so that his legs were underneath hers and she was cradled in his lap. Parker never lifted her head, but her arms were tight around him and he felt the ghost of a smile against the skin of his neck.

Brutally suppressing the shiver that tried to run down his spine as the feel of her lips on his skin, Eliot let his head tilt so that it was pressed against Parker's hair, the blonde strands soft against his cheek. One arm slid down so that it was wrapped loosely around her waist while the other stayed tilted so that he could splay his hand across her back, warm and solid and soothing.

Neither of them spoke as the night stretched on, nor fell into the grasping arms of sleep, but the feel of each other's heartbeats kept the waking nightmares at bay. Warm arms gave shelter as they kept a silent vigil over Hardison's door, and in the darkness, pressed together, the fears of their hearts seemed lighter.

Water is wet. The sun rises in the east. Eliot cares.

And so does Parker.

**Author's Note:**

> I have very tentative plans to write a follow up to this that will focus on Eliot and Hardison, so keep an eye out if that's something that interests you! Thank you guys very much for reading, I know that it has been years since the show ended but I am so insanely grateful that the fandom is still going strong. I would love to hear what you guys thought, and thank you again for reading. Cheers!


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